Maccabi Haifa took a commanding 0:4 victory over Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the fourth round of the Ligat ha-Al on Monday evening at the Kiryat Shmona municipal stadium. The result leaves the visitors second in the table with nine points from four games, while the hosts remain in 12th place on three points after one win and three defeats.
The match took a decisive turn in the 28th minute when Ofir Benbenishti collected a red card for the home side, reducing them to ten men and giving Haifa the upper hand to put the game to bed early. Before that, the visitors had already shown their intent with a first-half strike from Ethane Azoulay in the 40th minute, while Amadou Sagna thought he had levelled for Kiryat Shmona before the goal was cancelled by VAR in the 49th minute.
Haifa's dominance became undeniable after the break. Pedro Brazão restored the two-goal cushion in the 56th minute, and Noam Sztejfman added a third in the 66th minute before Tsunami rounded off the scoring in the 86th minute. The visitors rolled the dice with early substitutions, bringing on Kenny Saief and Yair Mordechai in the 61st minute, and later replaced both goalscorers in the 71st minute.
The statistics tell a straightforward story. Haifa controlled 66 per cent of possession and created an expected goals total of 2.17 from 13 attempts, eight of which were on target. Kiryat Shmona managed only 34 per cent possession and 0.91 expected goals from seven shots, just one of which tested their goalkeeper.
By then, the home side had been reduced to ten men and struggled to contain the visitors' movement. Haifa completed 484 passes compared to 281 for Kiryat Shmona, while the visitors also won more aerial duels and took more corners. The clean-sheet run came to an end for Kiryat Shmona, who had kept two clean sheets in their opening fixtures.
The result extends Haifa's winning momentum after three victories from four matches, while Kiryat Shmona's inconsistent form continues with only one win all season. Both sides will return to action next week, with Haifa looking to maintain pressure on the league leaders and Kiryat Shmona searching for their first points since the opening round.